MILWAUKEE — A decisive element of the Cardinals’ ongoing search for that reliever who could seize a middle inning and steal time for the offense to rally was, of course, banking on their offense to at some point conjure that rally.
They had not always been able to sync the two.
They did Wednesday, emphatically.
In his 25th appearance in the majors, Johan Oviedo, emerging on this trip as the answer to the Cardinals’ middle-relief riddle, earned his first big-league win. He had been 0-9. But the win only came when he froze the Brewers’ one-run lead in the fifth and Nolan Arenado reversed it in the sixth inning. Arenado’s two-run homer coupled with Oviedo’s 2 1/3 scoreless innings lifted the Cardinals to a 5-4 victory against Milwaukee and back into first place in the National League Central Division at American Family Field.
In relief of starter Adam Wainwright, Oviedo entered in the fifth inning with two of the veteran’s runners still on base and one out to get. Oviedo got the groundball that kept Wainwright’s ERA from bloating and, more essentially, the Brewers’ lead from swelling. The young right-handed picked up the pace from there, striking out three of the next six batters he faced to deliver a one-run game to the back end of the bullpen.
With Giovanny Gallegos and Ryan Helsley unavailable after splitting four innings of work Tuesday, Genesis Cabrera pitched two innings, looking only briefly into the abyss of a blown save in the ninth.
Cabrera got a groundout from Christian Yelich with the tying run at second base to secure his first save of the season.
The Cardinals built their offense on home runs from Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning and Arenado’s game-changer in the sixth. It was only the fifth time in their season and a half together that they’ve homered in the same game. Goldschmidt drew a walk from Brewers starter Eric Lauer ahead of Arenado’s at-bat to put the tying run on base. Arenado’s 406-foot mash to left field on a 2-0 pitch allowed him to follow Goldschmidt all the way home.
Oviedo, 24, made 13 starts for the Cardinals in 2021 as part of their mad scramble to cover innings as they cascaded out of contention in June, and he struggled with command and efficiency as a starter. Twice in Boston last week the Cardinals rallied late in the game, but fell shy of overtaking the Red Sox because of runs allowed by a middle reliever. Manager Oliver Marmol saw where the Cardinals’ need and Oviedo’s skillset could merge: the bullpen.
“That’s the plan,” Marmol said. “Put him in the ’pen, hope that it helps.”
In his second appearance in that role, Oviedo echoed what he did in the first, and thanks to the rally became the sixth Cardinal pitcher this season to earn his first win. He became the first Cuban-born player to win a game for the Cardinals since Tony Fossas in 1997.
